A deal between Subhash Chandra's Essel group, promoters of Dish TV, and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel has been called off due to differences over valuation, according to a report in leading publication.

The promoters of Dish TV are now in talks with a global financial investor, which has no operations in the country, to pick up half their stake, the report said.

The cash generated from the deal will be used by Essel group to buy back 5% in flagship company Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) over the next 12 months.

The Essel group expects Rs 20 billion from the deal, if it goes through, according to the report.

Bharti Airtel has a 23.39% share of the 69 million subscribers in the direct-to-home (DTH) market.

Bharti Airtel has been looking at expanding its DTH operations in order to take on Reliance Jio's aggressive strategy to reach homes through fibre-to-the-home and bring in high speed broadband.

Shares of Bharti Airtel gained Rs 2.15, or 0.4%, to settle at Rs 545.50. The total volume of shares traded was 287,971 at the BSE (Thursday).